Conventional tape measures which provide tape lengths of more than 10 or 12 feet tend to be bulky and cumbersome, heavy to carry and awkward to use. In most versions, a handle is supplied for laborious hand-rewinding of the tape after a measurement has been taken.
To overcome these tape measure drawbacks and deficiencies, it is the principal object of this invention to provide a lightweight compact tape measure device with a measuring capacity of up to 400 feet, which includes an automatic rewind mechanism and which is sized to be easily carried in the palm of the hand or in a pocket.